The
DREAM Act could come up for a vote in the Senate and House soon.
Call
your representative and senators and ask friends and family members
to join you. Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-225-3121, and
ask for your Senators and Representative, and urging them to vote
for and publicly support the DREAM
Act.

If
enacted, the DREAM Act would create a pathway for undocumented
immigrant students to legal status. Students will be eligible for
the pathway to legal status if they:

ï¿½ entered the United States
before age 16;

ï¿½ lived in the U.S. for at
least five continuous years immediately before the bill becomes
effective;

ï¿½ graduated from high school or
gained admission into an institute of higher education;

ï¿½ have "good moral character"
and not committed certain crimes; and

ï¿½ are younger than 30 when the
bill becomes effective.

The
DREAM (The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act
is bipartisan legislation that would provide the opportunity to
young people with good moral character, who have lived in the U.S.
for at least five years and graduated from high school to legalize
their status. Instead of punishing students for actions taken on
their behalf and beyond their control, the DREAM Act would provide
fair process by which they could gain legal status.

The Episcopal
Church General Convention passed a resolution in 2009 (B006) in
support of legal status for undocumented youth who arrived as
infants and/or children and have grown up as members of our
communities and schools, providing for them the opportunity to
pursue higher education and/or serve the United States so they can
become full contributing members of our communities and could
eventually become U.S. Citizens. The DREAM Act would make a
huge difference in the lives of undocumented youth who were brought
to the United States by their parents and now, because of
their lack of legal status, face obstacles to their future. By
removing such barriers, the DREAM Act will allow immigrant students
to pursue their dreams through college education or, if they choose
to, through military service. DREAM Act students are talented,
intelligent and dedicated young people who know only the U.S. as
their home and who are ready to contribute to this country and have
much we can benefit from.

So,
make your calls and urge your friends and family who you will be
with in the coming days to make these calls as well. Remember, call
the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-225-3121, ask for your Senators
and Representative, and urge them to vote for and publicly support
the DREAM Act.